Whicker: Notre Dame heads into The Crimson zone

Jan. 6, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Jesse Williams (54) of the University of Alabama gets ready to make the stop on Thomas Rawls (38) of the University of Michigan during the game at Cowboys Stadium on September 1, 2012 in Arlington, Texas. Alabama defeated Michigan 41-14. LEON HALIP, GETTY IMAGES

Jesse Williams (54) of the University of Alabama gets ready to make the stop on Thomas Rawls (38) of the University of Michigan during the game at Cowboys Stadium on September 1, 2012 in Arlington, Texas. Alabama defeated Michigan 41-14. LEON HALIP, GETTY IMAGES

He played rugby and Aussie football back home, but gravitated to an American football club team. A Western Arizona JC coach went to a clinic in Brisbane and spotted him. Former Alabama offensive coordinator Jim McElwain, now the Colorado State coach, had a friend on that Western Arizona staff.

"Rugby was different because you didn't have any padding," Williams said. "But sometimes that football helmet can be weaponized."

.When he got to Alabama in 2011 he wasn't familiar with such football phrases as 'the flat." But it wasn't like they were asking him to play quarterback. And it wasn't like SEC football was the only unfamiliar thing.

Center Barrett Jones remembers the day Williams stared at the squirrels that make a home on the campus quad.

"What are those little furry rats?" Williams asked Jones.

"They didn't have squirrels in Australia,' Jones said Saturday. "it blew his mind that we let these little animals run around free.'

What happens to Alabama's mind if Notre Dame proves it can run over its defensive front, or, more shockingly, holds up against Jones and the Tide's nonpareil offensive line?

What happens to Notre Dame's sense of order if Southeastern Conference quickness becomes the theme of tonight's BCS National Championship Game, just as it has been in the past six?

The team that digests and absorbs the unexpected will be tonight's winner.

As the hour nears, more people are wondering if Alabama is as bankable a commodity as it appeared in October.

The Irish barely slipped by Pittsburgh, Brigham Young and Purdue. But they wiped out Miami, 41-3, and won impressively at Oklahoma, 30-13.

Nine of their 12 opponents went to bowls. Only five of Alabama's regular-season opponents did.

Are all those glass-ball trophies somehow distorting the truth about the SEC?

LSU, Mississippi State and Florida lost bowl games. Auburn, Tennessee, Arkansas and Kentucky were so bad they fired their coaches.

The Crimson Tide did not play South Carolina or Florida and got handled, at home, by Texas A&M.

Quarterback AJ McCarron bailed out Alabama at LSU with a final-minute drive and a 28-yard TD pass to T.J. Weldon. The Tigers had the ball almost 40 minutes that night and burned the Crimson Tide on 10 of 20 third downs.

"They're not perfect," Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert said. "They have a great defensive team but all teams have weaknesses. They might not play the ball great at times."

And there's the theory that a runaround QB like ND's Everett Golson can bedevil Alabama because A&M's Johnny Manziel did.

"The play is never over with him,' Eifert said of Golson. "You always have to get open no matter what he does, because he's always trying to throw you the ball."

But let's not overthink all this.

Alabama and Notre Dame rank high nationally in most categories. The biggest difference is the red zone, where the back of the end zone serves as a 12th defender, not that the Tide needs one.

Opponents have ventured inside Alabama's 20 only 27 times. They have been turned away, without points, 10 times, with three field goals and 14 touchdowns.

The Tide has led the nation in red zone defense each of the past two years. Notre Dame's inside-20 offense ranks 76th.

Against USC, the Irish kicked four red zone field goals (five overall) and got one TD in six trips. For the year they scored only 27 touchdowns in 58 red zone appearances. That will not get it done tonight.

"Being in the red zone, it limits places you can go with the ball," said Alabama safety Robert Lester. 'That makes it an opportunity to make big plays."

And there's McCarron, a chronically underrated quarterback who led the nation in passing efficiency, is 24-2 as a starter and threw a school-record 26 TDs. He has thrown 440 passes in his Alabama career. The wrong jersey has caught only eight of them.

Notre Dame has not played an SEC team in six years.

What happens when cornerback Dee Milliner sticks to its receivers? Or when its running backs bounce off Williams?

'I get to work every morning at 6:30 and Jesse is there lifting," defensive coordinator Kirby Smart said. "He loves the weight room. He wants to build a weight room back home.

"I knew from the beginning our people would love him, because he's different. He's a great personality, probably the smartest guy on our defense. There weren't a lot of adjustments. Strike a blow, go get the guy with the ball. He can do that."

Expect Alabama to do what its SEC brethren always do in this game: strike harder, pursue faster, deal with a different animal.

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